On 7th June 1988, the members of
the controversially elected parliament of Bangladesh passed the Constitution
(8th Amendment) Bill imposing Islam as the state religion of the country which
broke away from another religious-based country - Pakistan - only 17 years ago.
The four pillars of the Constitution of Bangladesh originally were nationalism,
democracy, secularism and socialism. Secularism and socialism were dropped from
the Constitution in 1977 to be replaced by ‘total faith in Allah’ and ‘social
justice’. By having Islam as the state religion, the nation-state which was
created through a war of independence fought by Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and
Christians against communalism and religious fanaticism thus lost its original
identity.

The
main reason for declaring Islam the state religion has been said to be because
of the statistical fact that there is an overwhelming majority of Muslims, and
without Islam as the state religion the majority of the population was not able
to establish its identity of nationhood, independence and sovereignty. It has
also been said by government leaders that the move has been initiated with a
view to curbing the alarming growth of fundamentalism, with particular reference
to the politics of Jamat-e-Islami which is a strong opposition party notable for
its religious fanaticism. But, encouraged by the passing of the Bill, the
anti-Bangladesh Islam-loving fundamentalist groups have quickly come out of
their shells and have called for the declaration of Bangladesh as an Islamic
Republic to complete their rehabilitation. In one of his public speeches right
after passing the Bill, the President has very clearly declared that no law that
is repugnant to the principles of the Qur'an and Hadiths shall be effective any
further in Bangladesh.

The government leaders
insist that Islam is in danger in the hands of both the fundamentalists and the
socialists, and hence it has to be saved. But in fact, Islam as the religion and
creed of the majority has always been in a place of natural prominence and
dominance in Bangladesh. Even in its secular days, Islam has been the dominant
religion in state functions. Today every state function is preceded by
recitations from the Qur'an. Bangladesh television broadcasts Azan regularly and
other Islamic rituals are also performed by government ministers and
functionaries as public duties. Women announcers and newsreaders are made to
cover their heads during the month of Ramadan while performing. The President
himself performs Haj every year using public funds as part of his state
duties.

Even
the first elected President of secular Bangladesh had on several occasions to
insist that Bangladesh’s secularism was not Godless atheism. It was he who had
entered Bangladesh in the Organisation of Islamic Countries at its summit in
1973. His going to Rabat shows the strength of Islamic sentiment prevailing in
newborn Bangladesh. The rajakars and albadars, the religious fanatic groups and
killers of the Bengali intellectuals, students and freedom fighters were set
free without trial by him. These facts establish the fact that Islam was never
in danger in Bangladesh, and that pro-Islamic sentiment never disappeared from
the country to give way to secularism. The capitalist-imperialist forces which
were defeated in the liberation war did not lose any time in reaping material
benefits from the situation. By eliminating the pro-socialist and secular
faction of the then ruling party - Awami League - they began the process of
recapturing Bangladesh.

Bangladesh was liberated
from Pakistan after 24 years of colonial relationship at a point of extreme
violence on the part of the Pakistani military rulers and the religion traders.
But even after liberation, secularism was not allowed to grow and take root in
this country. The Islamisation process that had begun immediately after
liberation was first given credibility by the post-1975 rulers as steps to
regain national identity which they alleged was lost in secularism and
socialism. They did not even anticipate any protest from the people of
Bangladesh when dropping these two pillars from the Constitution in 1977. It is
interesting to note that in Bangladesh the pro-socialist government had to fall
within four years to moderate-right military forces which lasted for about seven
years, only to fall to extreme-right military rulers who have managed to stay in
power for seven years with very faint indications of leaving soon. But this
government had to face the severest opposition from the people of the country.
Apparently this has been the most unpopular government, which has plunged
Bangladesh into a chronic condition of total political instability, economic
crisis, unprecedented lawlessness, corruption, violence, frustration,
hopelessness and drug addiction in the youth and no sense of direction for the
future. In Bangladesh, the present government is faced with a situation which it
is not able to control. The opposition parties which are essentially bourgeois
in character have also failed so far in making any move that is even to their
advantage. Very clearly, people have shown no confidence both in the ruling
government and also in the system of bourgeois politics.

From the above it may be
said that the main reasons for the continued crisis in Bangladesh are a)
inability on the part of the government to solve the problems of the people and
b) the absence of a political force able to replace or topple the present regime
in a fruitful way.

In the rural areas the
process of pauperisation is pushing more and more people below the poverty line.
With practically no education, medical care, security and above all food, their
situation is going out of control of the government. The concessional treatment
of World Bank prescribed land reforms and rural credit programmes is not able to
help much. Due to its capitalist-patriarchal nature, women in all sectors are
being pushed back despite the rhetoric of women’s development being supported
and sponsored by the government. But many of the women who had to come out to
work after 1972 as the male earners in their families were killed during the war
feel quite strongly about their rights in society. There are other women’s
groups working for women’s liberation and for obvious reasons would not like to
give in to this pressure. The international women’s movement and the United
Nations’ support for women’s demands have widened the scope for educated women
to increase their organisational and bargaining power. The present
capitalist-military-patriarchal government apprehends serious opposition from
the women’s groups and definitely senses a ‘silent anger’ in the masses.
Therefore religion has to be invoked in the interest of their own survival and
preservation of dominance. The following summary of the nature of capitalist
development in Bangladesh will make the picture clearer.

When Pakistan was created
in 1947 there was no organised Bengali Muslim bourgeoisie in the country. The
then Pakistani government encouraged the development of a free capitalist
economy and the economy of the then East Pakistan was brought under the total
control of the West wing. In the sixties, mainly for political reasons, they
took the initiative to create a Bengali bourgeoisie in East Pakistan. As a
result a number of rich families were born. Their role in the nationalist
movements was always oscillating. During the liberation war in 1971, most of
them naturally took the role of silent spectators, many even co-operated with
the Pakistani military junta.

Right after liberation, the
development of this Bengali rich class was thwarted, mainly due to nationalism
in the field of trade and industry. Some of the influential members of the then
ruling party - the Awami League - never approved of secularism or socialism and,
in collaboration with national and international capitalist forces, succeeded in
weakening the pro-socialist elements in the party and set the Bangladesh economy
to develop along capitalist lines. A group of people inside and outside the
party was allowed to thrive through plunder and exploitation. Gradually this
particular group took control of the country’s economy as well as politics.
Upstarts and plunderers may be anything but patriots. And that it why it became
so much easier for the capitalist-imperialist forces and their local agents to
control and direct the situation to their advantage.

After the change over in
1975 these were the people who came into power. They were open supporters of a
free economy and immediately after coming to power they started to denationalise
all the nationalised industries. Later on, along with changes in politics from
time to time, this process has only been intensified and expedited. The public
sector was curtailed in order to foster the private sector. The effort to
establish a free economy in the country still continues.

Because of the distinctive
historical background of capitalist development in the country and also due to a
very weak position in the world capitalist system, the development of capitalism
in Bangladesh possesses a very special character. The features of its character
may be described as follows:

a) The state performs a
direct and principle role in fostering the development of a group of specially
favoured capitalists.

b) Imperialism plays a very
significant role in this process through the state and through other agents such
as multinationals, NGOs etc.

c) The process of
capitalist development in this country is not similar to that of the classical
Western development of capital.

By its very nature of being
dependent on imperialism and the state, this type of capitalism does not bring
any effective change in the existing system. Therefore, Bangladesh is only
creating a handful of new rich. On the other hand, because of continued despotic
rule in Bangladesh, we experience formation of a military-civil-bureaucratic
capital. The imperialist forces, the new big rich class and the
military-civil-bureaucratic capital form a close relationship with each other
and act as complementary forces for their own development. (M.M Akash
44)

In fact,
this is a unified process. The profit that is extorted by this exploiting class
by direct or indirect imperialist assistance, state co-operation, exploitation
of the people, hoarding, black marketeering, speculation, indenting and other
business and trades, is not being invested in any productive sector. Some of it
is being reinvested, mainly in unproductive sectors, and some in welfare
activities. Most of the profit is smuggled out of the country and spent in
luxurious consumption. In fact, parasitism is an essential characteristic of
bureaucratic state capitalism. And the state here gradually comes under the
direct control of those new monied classes who are by nature agents of
imperialist interests. As a result, Bangladesh has become totally bankrupt and
90% of its budget must come from foreign aid.

This special trend of
capitalist development in Bangladesh has intensified the crisis of the people.
It has also strengthened neo-colonial exploitation and has contained the
pre-capitalist production relation from passing on to another stage. This in
effect has created dissatisfaction in the minds of that faction of the
bourgeoisie who are interested in productive investment.

The patriarchal-capitalist
nature of the state continually pushes women of all classes to stand back and
protest. Women are continually being pushed out of work and employment in the
rural sector. In the urban areas in the name of culture and tradition, women are
being discouraged from taking up jobs that are supposed to be meant for males.
The state is not taking any responsibility for looking after children’s
development in any field. Rather, mothers are vigorously urged to give society
worthy citizens and the technique suggested for that is strict birth control
practices. More and more women are expressing their resentment at the existing
system and women’s movement workers are very clearly demanding a more
egalitarian social structure. All these dynamics working together are
pushing Bangladesh
towards even greater disaster or social revolution.

Now this intensification of
social conflict within the country has to be diverted as far as possible into a
channel which is innocuous from the point of the view of the vested interest
groups. The stirring up of antagonism along communal, chauvinistic (favouring
one religion over another and doing it through the state) lines is a convenient
method of directing attention away from the genuine problems, from class
struggle and women’s struggle for an egalitarian social structure. The present
government of Bangladesh has very cleverly held the line of Islamisation for its
own survival. Introduction and implementation of Islamic laws will extend the
power of the state to interfere with people’s personal life and hence exercise
more control over them. The family laws of Bangladesh will have sacrificed the
1961 Ordinance which brought at least some equality to women in marriage,
divorce and in restricting polygamy. The facilities provided to women through
the family courts will be taken away.

This perfectly suits the
imperialistic and neo-colonial designs of the capitalist system. After the
liberation of Bangladesh along secular and socialist lines and due to the
Russian presence in Afghanistan, the American imperialist bloc maintained their
links with this continent mainly through Pakistan via Saudi Arabia. After the
changeover in 1975, they started channelling their aid and assistance of
Bangladesh through Saudi Arabia and encouraged growth and strengthening of
pro-Islamic feeling in order to regain and renew their influence in this
territory. Fundamentalism seems on the surface a national phenomenon, but in
fact it is very much related to imperialism and neo-colonialism. Most of the
people of Bangladesh feel that this country has a long cultural tradition of
peaceful living together of people of different religions and that glorification
of one’s own religion against the others’ only upsets the harmony. Islamisation
of Bangladesh has been criticised as the government’s way of using
fundamentalism to suppress all progressive political movements. Fundamentalism
has the power to glorify the past, to mystify the present, so that people forget
to look for a future.

However, it appears that
the government has received more wrath than praise from the people by declaring
Islam as the state religion. Had it been the long cherished hope of the majority
they would have expressed it by welcoming the step. On the contrary: the leading
students groups, progressive intellectuals, teachers, painters, doctors,
lawyers, theatre artists and many other groups registered their protest
immediately after the passing of the Bill. Women’s groups have very strongly
expressed their feelings against the Bill by organising processions, meetings
and rallies and also by regular protests in newspapers and journals. United
Women’s Forum and Naripokkho organised protest rallies on the day the Bill was
proposed. Naripokkho has also brought a writ petition challenging the Bill, but
for obvious reasons the hearing is being delayed.

The most important thing is
that people have expressed their dissatisfaction with the Bill and have
repeatedly pledged to resist it.

This paper was prepared for
the exchange programme of Women Living Under Muslim Laws and
ISIS-WICCE.